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Can anyone tell me what this could be? It's been on the car since I bought it, but it's really starting to bug me now. It's only on one side of the car. In person it almost looks like marks from a wet rag that have hardened. Could this issue be corrected by the 3 step process of Compound > Polish > Wax, or do I need to take it one step further and wetsand? Any input is appreciated!
Thanks for the replies. I have suspected it's orange peel, but the pictures of orange peel on google look different. The marks on my car are somewhat hazy under certain light conditions, most noticeable under direct sunlight. Like I said it looks like a streaky wet rag was wiped across the paint.
I've read that Mercedes uses a type of ceramic paint, so will that make it harder to correct using a compound, Polish, wax method?
Could you maybe take a picture of it down the side so it might be easier to see?
You must have noticed it before you bought it. Did you ask the previous owner or dealer you bought it from if it was repainted or what happened to it? If it orange peel from a repaint, that is really bad someone didn't try and clean that up.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it looks as if it may be a repaint that hasn't been done well. I found out the same thing when my rear wheel well started to actually peel a little bit, whole rear left side of the car had been repainted
Could you maybe take a picture of it down the side so it might be easier to see?
You must have noticed it before you bought it. Did you ask the previous owner or dealer you bought it from if it was repainted or what happened to it? If it orange peel from a repaint, that is really bad someone didn't try and clean that up.
Will try to get a better picture tomorrow and post it up. I actually didn't notice it until a few months into buying the car. Like I said, it's really not obvious except for under the correct lighting conditions. I have suspected it might be repainted, but it's the whole passenger side where this is happening, from about the height of the bottom of the windows, all the way down. However, it stops right at the chrome strip on the bottom of the door. If it was repainted it would also be affecting the area under chrome strip wouldn't it? You can see also see it tapering off when looking at the rear quarter panel, as the rear pilar is not affected. What are the odds this is a bad machine polishing job? When I first bought the car I did notice there was a lot of holograming on the driver's side.
Originally Posted by Funkwagen
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it looks as if it may be a repaint that hasn't been done well. I found out the same thing when my rear wheel well started to actually peel a little bit, whole rear left side of the car had been repainted
I have suspected this is a bad repaint job, but then again I've seen a bad repaint job and this just doesn't look like it. It seems to be over the paint and not necessarily in the paint, if that makes sense. Almost like dried wax. As stated above, this is affecting the whole passenger side. It is worse, however, on the rear quarter panel and the front fender. The strange part is that I can see it tapering off on the rear pilar, and the areas under the chrome strip on the doors is also not affected. Bad machine polishing job?
Although impossible to say for sure without seeing it, I had some paint work done and after I got the car back and had it washed and was drying it I noticed there were a few areas where the polishing compound might not have fully been removed. That might have looked a little like what you describe, but I can't imagine the whole side of the car being like that. That wasn't apparent right away, but was easy to see/remove. It is like dried wax Take a little polish or rub with a clean cloth and see if it would be removed. Probably not the case, but maybe worth a shot.
Have you taken it back to the place you bought to ask about it? Or maybe take it to a detailing shop and see what they might say. Let us know what you find out.
Grabbed a pic, but as mentioned above, it has to be under the correct lighting conditions. Otherwise it actually looks great. Maybe I'm being too **** about this but oh well
Although impossible to say for sure without seeing it, I had some paint work done and after I got the car back and had it washed and was drying it I noticed there were a few areas where the polishing compound might not have fully been removed. That might have looked a little like what you describe, but I can't imagine the whole side of the car being like that. That wasn't apparent right away, but was easy to see/remove. It is like dried wax Take a little polish or rub with a clean cloth and see if it would be removed. Probably not the case, but maybe worth a shot.
Have you taken it back to the place you bought to ask about it? Or maybe take it to a detailing shop and see what they might say. Let us know what you find out.
I just emailed the detailer I have used in the past. I work next to a detail shop, but their clientele consists of Ferraris and Lambos. I have a feeling they'd ask for my first born if they were to correct my paint.
2015 BMW 550i xDrive; 2017 GLC300; 2013 C300 (SOLD)
Definite botched respray. The detailer will check pain thickness and determine if they have enough to work with for wet sanding the area - only way to fix without complete respray. If they need to wet sand and buff entire quarter panel, you'd be looking at $400 - $500 from a pro detailer (DC area pricing at least).
Yeah, just looks like a poor finishing job when it was painted. I would think they should be able to smooth that out at least a bit. And you aren't being too ****. It should not look like that after a repaint, especially areas like in the picture which should be the easiest to make very smooth. Very poor attention to detail by whoever did the work.
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